On May 15, Brazilian university professors, researchers and students were joined by the general population to reject the latest blow to social gains achieved during the Workers' Party governments by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
Two weeks ago Brazil's Education Minister Abraham Weintraub announced a 30 percent cut to the federal education budget, stressing that the first institutions affected by the measure are those that provoke public "mayhem" like the University of Brasilia (UNB), the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), and the Fluminense Federal University (UFF).
The next day, the Higher Education Secretary, Arnaldo Barbosa, said that the budget cut would be applied equally among all universities. The Bolsonaro administration also indicated it would cut some 3,400 scholarships for scientific research and graduate students.
In the last two weeks, trade union centers, social movements and progressive political parties announced their support for universities and rejected the social security reform bill, a proposal which aims to privatize the pension system.
Today, former capitan Bolsonaro faces the first nationwide, multi-class strike in Brazil in years.